The latest report comes on the heels of a separate rumor issued Wednesday that also claimed Apple is planning to release new Ivy Bridge-powered iMacs in the coming months. That report claimed the new desktops would arrive in June or July, while Friday's latest support singled out June as the month for them to launch.

Both reports said that the new iMacs would feature Intel's Core i5 and Core i7 processors, based on the new Ivy Bridge architecture. Those chips are expected to launch later this month on April 29.

Friday's report also reiterated its previous claim that the next iMac will be thinner and feature anti-reflective glass displays. That would be a first for Apple, which has previously only offered anti-glare purchase options on its MacBook line of notebooks.

The iMac lineup was last updated in May of 2011, when Apple added high-definition FaceTime cameras as well as high-speed Thunderbolt ports. The current iMacs are powered by Intel's Sandy Bridge processors and AMD Radeon HD graphics.

Finally, DigiTimes also said that Apple is set to launch new MacBook Pro notebooks, which will also feature Ivy Bridge processors, at the end of the second quarter of calendar 2012, which concludes at the end of June.

Dictation on the new iPad is also down, so I guess we can safely assume that it's trying to connect to the same servers that SIRI uses.

Thanks for the update. Apple's data center is down, would be a safe assumption. I am not surprised when BrightHouse/RoadRunner lie about network status, but it would be nice if AppleInsider could remove mouth from teat and report actual news.

Friday's report also reiterated its previous claim that the next iMac will be thinner and feature anti-reflective glass displays. That would be a first for Apple, which has previously only offered anti-glare options on its MacBook line of notebooks.

It doesn't sound like it would be an anti-glare option though, rather just a way to cut the reflections. There's no way they would do the same as the laptops. It's fine leaving a 15" TN panel unprotected as it doesn't cost that much to replace. That's not the case for a 27" IPS panel. If they do go with anti-reflective treatment, I'd expect it will be a standard treatment of the glass like they apply to glasses:

It would be a very welcome feature to have on the iMac and resolution-independence would be great too so that you could scale up the UI. If they make the hard drive easy to replace on it, that would take away any serviceability problems.

Hopefully we'll see 4 x USB 3 ports and the removal of the optical drive. They should manage to slim it down a fair bit. I'd also like to see them move to 23-24" displays on the low-end instead of 21.5".

It doesn't sound like it would be an anti-glare option though, rather just a way to cut the reflections. There's no way they would do the same as the laptops. It's fine leaving a 15" TN panel unprotected as it doesn't cost that much to replace. That's not the case for a 27" IPS panel. If they do go with anti-reflective treatment, I'd expect it will be a standard treatment of the glass like they apply to glasses:

It would be a very welcome feature to have on the iMac and resolution-independence would be great too so that you could scale up the UI. If they make the hard drive easy to replace on it, that would take away any serviceability problems.

Hopefully we'll see 4 x USB 3 ports and the removal of the optical drive. They should manage to slim it down a fair bit. I'd also like to see them move to 23-24" displays on the low-end instead of 21.5".

Perhaps take the 27 inch across the range to the £999 price point and just have one entry 21 incher as a cheaper model at £795. £999 is historically very steep for the entry iMac compared to how low the £695 price they got down to before the serious price hike around 2008.

As for the whole optical thing. *Somewhat bemused. So. Do creative pro's just back up on HDs now? That it? SD cards? Memory sticks? Magnetic tape?

I'd be quite happy putting stuff on SD cards. They're getting quite dense these days. Why can't we get software on SD cards? Is it a download only future? *Feels somewhat uncomfortable about that.

Lemon Bon Bon.

You know, for a company that specializes in the video-graphics market, you'd think that they would offer top-of-the-line GPUs...

The first Bondi iMac. It was great. I remember it fondly. I nearly bought one...but I had the Power Mac tower at the time.

The candy ones were great too. Very cheap at one point. £545 UK inc vat. That's why the current entry price p*sses me off a little. That 'affordability' of the iMac (once it's hall mark) isn't there for me.

Then the Lamp. Very radical.

The white iMacs came. (Not that long after Steve said the components shouldn't be glommed onto the back...)

I wasn't entirely sold on the white iMacs with crappy push your finger into the plastic matte screen to make a squiggle. Blurrr. So cheap. I wanted glass.

With the alu iMacs, it was a matter of time. I loved the design of them. The gpu power has just about caught up with the design. The current top end is a buy for me IF I was in the market. That 27 inch and the top end GPU with 2 gigs of Vram. Boy...*droools...

I'll have another look next year. From the leaks so far, there is little for me to get excited about re: Ivy. Hopefully the GPU will give us a nice surprise. I'm getting the evolutionary vibe when I want revolution. You know. Higher resolutions. HiDPI.

Lemon Bon Bon.

You know, for a company that specializes in the video-graphics market, you'd think that they would offer top-of-the-line GPUs...

That's crazy. They've absolutely nothing to do with one another. And I'm not even going to comment on that other half.

Oh, I could be wrong. But here is what I am right about:
"tower" case computers (yes, even for "professionals") will very soon become an old memory. And Thunderbolt has made that fact closer to reality right now than anything.

I don't believe Apple is just going to come out with a 40" television set that just has really really really cool TV software on it. They are not going to do that. And the reason they're not going to do that is because they WANT to sell a ton of them. Just some reeelly coool TV set isn't going to cut it. Nobody is going to throw out their 40" Samsung and go pay $1400 for a 40" reeelly cooool TV with an Apple badge on it. It will be a new iteration of the Mac / iOS / TV. These are going to cost them a fortune to manufacture, and even more to cargo ship. I believe this will, eventually, be the new "home living room Mac"

It doesn't sound like it would be an anti-glare option though, rather just a way to cut the reflections. There's no way they would do the same as the laptops. It's fine leaving a 15" TN panel unprotected as it doesn't cost that much to replace. That's not the case for a 27" IPS panel. If they do go with anti-reflective treatment, I'd expect it will be a standard treatment of the glass like they apply to glasses:

It would be a very welcome feature to have on the iMac and resolution-independence would be great too so that you could scale up the UI. If they make the hard drive easy to replace on it, that would take away any serviceability problems.

Hopefully we'll see 4 x USB 3 ports and the removal of the optical drive. They should manage to slim it down a fair bit. I'd also like to see them move to 23-24" displays on the low-end instead of 21.5".

I m afraid Marvin they'll be only opting for their current pixel doubling strategy which would realistically mean no real ri, at least if they allowed some option for user adjustable font for the menu bar, elements in safari, mail, get info, cmd click windows etc. As for the hd I still think they'll go with the same take the screen off first to replace design, but I still have hopes there.

Much less reflective glass will be absolutely great, finally as useable imac for most of us who can't handle the now patented apple glass glare.

My major request for the imac, is better ergonomics, that is height adjustability. What is Jony Ive up to these days anyway? Shouldn't they have figured out a way to modify the by now very tired years old imac design to something that would bring back the great imac g4 ergonomics? Making the chin a bit smaller or taking the glass edge to edge are minor tweaks...

To be exact matte is a type of anti-reflective tech in the sense that it tries to avoid reflections by defusing them, which brings along a "frosty" look and less clarity to text especially so if aggressive anti glare coating is used such as the ips panels apple and others have used (and much less so in pva panels).

What's funny is that apple has been lately (as in the last few years) calling matte anti glare and then sticking a glass on top of the very same portable macs with tn panels which could have easily had semi gloss (a la air) coating, making them very pro glare indeed.

You might as well ask a crackhead bum on the street corner about the latest Apple news, because they wouldn't be any less accurate than Digitimes.

I read your comments on the forum all the time and agree with a lot of them but I bet many people just look past what you say because you have little tact or diplomacy. I don't know how old you are and maybe that would explain it.

Unfortunately you are in dire need of social skills. I don't mean this to offend you, but for your benefit, it needs to be said.

I'm hoping they DON'T do away with the optical drive. Sure I could get an external BUT why should I have to. I believe many people are still using it for various task. I have a 6xCD player in my car. Why stop using it when I can burn iTunes music for it. I rip all movies when I buy them to my internal drive. Why should have to use an external optical drive to rip them when Macs still have them. My point is that plenty of Mac users DO still use them (many everyday). It doesn't cost Apple very much money to keep it when people do still use it. The iMac is a Desktop computer and doesn't need to be so slim that they need to get rid of the optical drive. I will be very disappointed if Apple does this to me. I'll still buy it, because in reality it's a small part of the whole experience, but I won't like.

For those who want to see it gone because THEY don't ever use it, try looking up the word Egocentrism.

You might as well ask a crackhead bum on the street corner about the latest Apple news, because they wouldn't be any less accurate than Digitimes.

This may be the first time I agree with you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lemon Bon Bon.

HiDPI screens would be nice. *Says optimistically.

Hmm. Could we imagine 'Air' like slimness on the iMac?

Was that question aimed at me? I don't see why a slightly thinner imac would be an improvement here. If anything it just introduces further design constraints. A height adjustable stand would be a nice feature, but I don't expect them to go that direction. Shaving a few mm off of its density wouldn't really grant you any extra desk space. That is why I'm unsure of the point of this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tallest Skil

Matte ≠ anti-reflective, remember.

I don't think anyone cares about this. The concern is regarding obtrusive reflections. Other brands have put out display panels without a the high gloss finish or the specular diffusion seen on the LG panels.

Quote:

Originally Posted by myapplelove

What's funny is that apple has been lately (as in the last few years) calling matte anti glare and then sticking a glass on top of the very same portable macs with tn panels which could have easily had semi gloss (a la air) coating, making them very pro glare indeed.

Actually, it's illegal regardless of whether there's an internal drive or not, so it's not much of an argument for dropping the internal drive.

Personally, I don't see the justification for dropping the internal drive from the iMac, even though I'd be completely in favor of dropping it from the MacBook Pro. ODDs are not all that expensive and you don't have the space and weight limitations with a desktop that you have with a laptop. And an extra 1/2" of thickness is almost unnoticeable with a desktop, but is a HUGE amount for a laptop.

The iMac already has space for an SSD, and HDD and an ODD all at the same time, so giving up the space really isn't necessary.

"I'm way over my head when it comes to technical issues like this"Gatorguy 5/31/13

The lampshade iMac was by far the best design. they need to go back to that kind of complete flexibility with the monitor, not the rigid set up they've had since, only rocking up and down. That change has to be one of the biggest steps backwards in Mac hardware history, and when you put a lampshade model with the current model side-by-side, you have to agree.

The lampshade iMac was by far the best design. they need to go back to that kind of complete flexibility with the monitor, not the rigid set up they've had since, only rocking up and down. That change has to be one of the biggest steps backwards in Mac hardware history, and when you put a lampshade model with the current model side-by-side, you have to agree.

'Have to' agree? Not at all. I don't know what a lampshade 27" iMac would look like or how it would work. It wasn't that hard to have enough weight in the base of the old one to support a 17" monitor. It might be horrendously heavy and complicated to do the same thing with a 27" monitor. Furthermore, there would probably be cooling issues with modern i5 and i7 chips and that case design.

I agree that having an adjustable monitor was a good thing and it was too bad that they took it away. I'm just now willing to make the leap to assuming that the tradeoffs would be worthwhile with a larger screen when we don't even know what the tradeoffs would be.

"I'm way over my head when it comes to technical issues like this"Gatorguy 5/31/13